Tag

#hush-money

2 incidents

Grade 2 of 5: Major Abuse of Power

Hush Money: 34 Felony Counts for Falsifying Business Records — Found Guilty

The prosecution established that Trump directed Michael Cohen to pay Stormy Daniels $130,000 less than two weeks before the 2016 election. Trump reimbursed Cohen through a series of false invoices and checks falsely recorded as 'legal expenses' — the 34 counts all arose from these falsified records. The Manhattan DA alleged the falsification was done to conceal the underlying crime of election fraud (influencing an election through unlawful means). The case also documented the AMI/National Enquirer arrangement in which the tabloid bought and suppressed stories from McDougal and others — the 'catch and kill' scheme. Trump was sentenced to an unconditional discharge on January 10, 2025, ten days before his second inauguration; the conviction remains on record. He filed his appeal brief with the Appellate Division in October 2025, and on August 28, 2026 federal Judge Alvin Hellerstein again refused to move the case to federal court on immunity grounds.

Grade 1 of 5: Significant Democratic Concern

Hush-Money Scheme: Cohen's Guilty Plea Names Trump; Trump Convicted on 34 Counts (2024)

Cohen's guilty plea was not just his own conviction — it was Trump's implication. Cohen stated in federal court that the campaign finance crimes (the Daniels and McDougal payments) were committed 'in coordination with and at the direction of' a candidate for federal office. Federal prosecutors' filings repeated that the payments were made in coordination with and at the direction of 'Individual-1', understood to be Trump. Cohen was sentenced to 36 months; he served about a year in prison before release to home confinement in May 2020, and completed his sentence in November 2021. Trump was never charged federally over the payments; he was convicted on 34 state felony counts in May 2024 and received an unconditional discharge on January 10, 2025, and is appealing.